There’s no question that I Love Lucy was one of the most successful television programs of all time. So, it wasn’t surprising when Aaron Sorkin announced that he wanted to make a biographical movie that featured the behind-the-scenes processes of the hit 1950s sitcom. The end result was Being the Ricardos, which premiered on December 21st and has been met with mostly positive reviews from critics.
Starring Nicole Kidman (Lucille Ball), Javier Bardem (Desi Arnaz), Nina Arianda (Vivian Vance) and J. K. Simmons (William Frawley), the film showed its stars during a week’s production of I Love Lucy. However, during that week, all hell broke loose as multiple crises threatened the stars’ careers. From a genre standpoint, Being the Ricardos was a biography, but Hollywood had its way with a few aspects of the film. So, here’s a rundown of what was historically accurate and what wasn’t.
Lucille Ball’s Red Scare Happened
The biggest question in Being the Ricardos was whether anyone would have a job by the end of the week — the reason: Lucille Ball was accused of being a communist. While it seems like a farfetched premise, it was actually true, and for the most part, the film portrayed it accurately. As she testified in front of the House Un-American Activities Committee, she registered to vote as a communist in 1936 in honor of her socialist grandfather. However, she never actually intended to vote as a communist, nor did she. After speaking to the committee, she and Desi thought that everything was fine until Walter Winchell’s controversial Sunday evening report.
“Fred and Ethel Fight” Was Not The Episode That Week
Being the Ricardos showed a production week of I Love Lucy, and the episode being filmed was Season 1’s “Fred and Ethel Fight.” That, however, was not the episode actually made during the Red Scare. In reality, it was an episode called “The Girls Go Into Business,” which was from Season 3. Maybe Sorkin changed it to better show how Fred and Ethel really did spend a lot of time bickering.
J. Edgar Hoover’s Deus Ex Machina Was Hollywoodized
At the film’s climax, Desi Arnaz went out on stage to do his usual pre-show warm-up, but rather than doing his normal routine; he made a speech about his wife’s innocence. That much was true, but Being the Ricardos added a little bit of dramatic flair. When Arnaz was finished, he put a phone to the microphone, and J. Edgar Hoover — the head of the FBI — declared that Ball was innocent. As a fan of I Love Lucy and a friend of Arnaz’s, Hoover did help with clearing Ball’s name, but he never made any phone call announcements.
Desi Arnaz Was Infamously Unfaithful
As a subplot to the Red Scare, Ball spent much of the film questioning Arnaz’s fidelity after a magazine printed a story about him having a fling with some call girls. Unfortunately, that was all too true. A January 1955 edition of Confidential magazine printed the headline, “Does Desi Really Love Lucy?.” While the magazine notoriously printed falsehoods, the spirit behind the report was true, even if it didn’t have all of the details correct.
